The Bizarre Adventures of the Oil Man, but Starting with Warhammer 32K

Compared to the brainless Skarbrand, a calculating Tzeentch will never cause any problems...

There shouldn't be any problems, right?

-

The sudden change on Mars alarmed the entire Casting Council.

Sages who owned forging base stations or presided over a small city began to gather at the Forging Council, where they began to argue under the watchful eye of Om Messiah.

"We must resume production immediately!"

A sage slammed the table and roared, "Om Messiah will never allow a spark of fire to stop!"

"Resume production? Do you think the plague code can be eliminated so easily?"

Another sage sneered and retorted, "The most important thing now is to concentrate our forces to fight the demon's army! That great demon has destroyed the Macharius Foundry. If we don't stop him, our territory will be next!"

"We? I take it you are? Your forge is right in his path. Don't wave the banner of fighting against the devil for your own benefit!"

"What about you? Do you think you can rest easy as long as you are not directly threatened?"

The arguing sages were vaguely divided into two factions: one advocated fighting the Khorne army with all their strength, while the other insisted on prioritizing the restoration of production.

They unreservedly vented the anxiety and greed within their own logical circuits, like a group of wild beasts trapped in a cage, tearing at each other but unable to find a way out.

Just then, Kubik entered the temple.

His appearance instantly quieted the quarrel, and all the sages turned their heads, their eyes focused on the half-crippled forging general.

Kubik still tried his best to maintain his dignity, but the damaged Data Throne no longer had the awe they once had in the eyes of the other sages, and was replaced by indifference and doubt.

Their anger finally found an outlet.

Everyone turned their attention to the injured casting general.

"Kubik, how could Mars have fallen into such chaos under your rule!?"

A senior sage took the lead and said, "The plague code has completely paralyzed our production line! Give us an explanation!"

"Why should I explain a disaster targeting the entire planet Mars?"

Kubik responded indifferently: "You so-called sages, don't you have any awareness of this?"

"The plague code spread from Lava City, which is the place you personally inspected! Shouldn't you be held responsible for this?"

"Responsible? You only want me to be responsible now?"

Kubik laughed in anger. He quickly stepped forward and picked out several sages. Although half-crippled, his physical advantage allowed him to easily subdue their resistance.

The other sages recognized that these people were Kubik's personal followers, and it was these people who were responsible for supervising the Lava City project and reporting to the Foundry Director.

Kubik brutally disabled the sages' mechanical implants. This brutal punishment caused some agitation among the other sages. However, since he was targeting his own men, they remained on the sidelines for the time being.

Having rebuilt his prestige by punishing his henchmen, Kubik turned around and looked coldly at the others present.

"I am guilty of Mars, guilty of the God of All Things, guilty of Om Messiah. I wish I could depose myself! But what about you? Are you sages so clean?!"

"I know that some of you are even more corrupt than my own followers! For your own benefit, you concealed information, deceived your superiors and subordinates, and even colluded with Chaos! Don't you have any responsibility for Mars's fall into this situation?!"

The sages remained silent. Some lowered their heads, but the majority remained unmoved, staring at Kubik indifferently.

Kubik's criticism of the current sages' divergent agenda could only win him back some of the influence that belonged to the Casting General. However, as long as the diverging interests among the sages were not resolved, his position would not be secure.

Passing by those sages who remained silent, Kubik returned to his highest seat on the Foundry Council surrounded by them.

After losing the Intelligent Control Corps and the Data Throne, he felt the weight of this position for the first time.

His failure was sealed when he chose Augustus to carry out the teleportation plan, but he would not let anyone take his place from his failure.

He will be the eternal King of Mars.

Kubik ordered the Thinker: "Project the current state of Mars."

A map of Mars was displayed, and the direction in which the demons and ghouls were moving was marked in a striking bloody red - but compared to the entire Mars, this threat still seemed insignificant.

Most of the civilian and production facilities on Mars were marked as faulty yellow. The scrap code did not have the ability to completely destroy them, but restoring them would still require a lot of effort and a certain amount of time.

Most military facilities that had the ability to cut off connections to the main network at critical moments were not affected too much, but the combat effectiveness of the Crusaders was closely related to logistics. As long as production could not be restored, their combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced.

However, in the eyes of most sages, the current power is enough to deal with the devil.

They didn't yet know what kind of threat existed on Mars, but judging by its scale, they believed it wouldn't escalate. Most people simply wanted someone else to take the blame so they could preserve their production lines and private armies.

The Casting General, who had personally experienced the enemy's special ability to corrupt machinery, did not think so. He knew clearly what kind of threat would be posed if these enemies were allowed to remain unchecked.

But words were not enough, and he had lost all his dignity and it was impossible for him to get anything out of these sages.

Kubik pondered for a moment, thinking about a solution.

His failure in the teleportation project affected the entire Mars and turned into a crisis of trust in him.

Now that he had lost his Data Throne and his Intelligence Control Corps, his previous methods of suppressing others through force were no longer effective. If he wanted to stop these sages from criticizing him, he had to resolve this crisis himself.

But the solution to the crisis?

Of course, there were many powerful forbidden weapons on Mars, but they couldn't understand the principles behind them and couldn't control their power. They couldn't let such a weapon be used against them.

Ultimately, the problem must be solved through conventional means. As long as the Titan Legion is willing to launch an attack...

Thinking of this, he looked at the Titan Legion Commander beside him.

"Is the Firebee Legion ready for battle?"

"Unfortunately, no. Our divine machines have all been eroded by waste code to varying degrees."

The Titan Order, independent of the Forge Council, is the absolute pillar of Mars' defense. The Fire Bees, a Titan legion formed long before the Unification War, embody the power of Mars. Vashtor, fully aware of this, targeted the Titan Academy where the Fire Bees were stationed when spreading the Waste Code Plague.

The Divine Machines did not lose their combat capability, but the Titan Order believed that sending these Titans to the battlefield would result in unnecessary losses.

"If the Titan is undergoing maintenance, when is the soonest they can launch an attack?"

Kubik pressed on, but his question was rejected by the Titan Legion.

"We're not going to go out there without the ability to maintain it."

The Firebees were once a behemoth force, boasting over 300 God Machines, but they were severely damaged during the Horus Heresy. Of the three original Titan Legions, only the Firebees remained, and even these were nearly extinct.

After a thousand years of reconstruction, they barely recovered to a scale of 100 machines, and after excluding the forces for expeditions, there were only 50 divine machines left.

Faced with the request of a Forge-General who was beginning to lose influence, the Firebee Legion had no intention of sending these precious assets of Om Messiah to risk both combat and politics.

Despite having anticipated this, Kubik still felt unhappy. Even in his prime, he couldn't force the Titan Order to obey completely. He turned to the Deputy Forge Supervisor and asked, "How many of our direct Skitarii are left?"

"One million are ready to attack at any time, and another two million can join the battlefield after a few adjustments. However, our energy and ammunition reserves are both problems. If we want to maintain a high-intensity offensive, our supplies are only enough to sustain 500,000 Skitarii."

“…That’s enough.”

Kubik weighed the pros and cons.

The Firebee Legion's self-preservation made him realize that if he gambled everything to resolve this crisis, these people would impeach him after the crisis was resolved.

He had to moderately allow the crisis to ferment, allowing everyone to realize the threat posed by these enemies. He then showed favor to a group of people and drew them to his united front. Only then could he maintain his position as the Casting General.

Thinking of this, he made a decision.

"Prioritize clearing the obsolete code and restoring production on Mars. I will deploy the Skitarii directly under Mars to assist those sages who stand in the demon's path against the demons."

The sages who were not on the route of the march received answers that satisfied them. Those sages whose vital interests were threatened realized that losses were inevitable, but they also had to accept the help of the Casting General.

The conflict between the two groups of people gradually subsided, and everyone began to return to their own territories to prepare for subsequent matters.

Kubik imagined that these sages who were watching the fight from the sidelines would realize the threat posed by Vashtor in the future, and those sages who were unable to resist the invasion would have no choice but to join his ranks and become his new followers.

At that time, he will reintegrate the forces on Mars, and while securing his position as the Forge General, he will destroy the threats that have humiliated him in Lava City.

Although this would give the enemy some opportunities to take advantage, Kubik believed that everything was within his plan.

He stood up and tried to leave, intending to return to his private temple to repair his damaged body, but the deputy foundry supervisor stopped him and revealed additional information.

"Sage Leon rebelled against the Iron Hands and seized the Moravec Foundry. Eventually, the High Wall dispatched a force of approximately 50,000 men and the Fists of the Paragon to join him on the surface. They're now using the Moravec Foundry as a hub to raid production lines. How should we deal with them?"

Kubik, suffering repeated setbacks, had almost forgotten the incident. Previously, he had been deceived and schemed by Augustus for the sake of the teleportation plan, leading him to become hostile to the Final Wall. Now that the teleportation plan had failed and Augustus had rebelled, he no longer had any reason to continue his hostility towards the Final Wall.

"Just a forge and a bunch of losers abandoned by the Iron Hands. Leave them there for now, but forbid them from sending more troops to Mars. As for their looting..."

Kubik thought for a moment and realized that these people could help him in dealing with Skarbrand and Vashtor.

A small group of Astartes can help him repel the demons and secure his throne with appropriate exchange of interests.

More importantly, no matter how big their appetites are, the threat they pose to him is no greater than that of the great sages of Mars who are eyeing the position of Forging General.

Kubik felt he should show them some kindness to ease the conflict.

After confirming that there were no important production lines around the Moravec Foundry and no property belonging to him, he waved his hand and made the decision.

"I will view this action as compensation for the previous conflict. I will acquiesce to these actions and not make any statement. At the same time, I will send an envoy to contact Leon. We need him as an intermediary... to conduct some negotiations with the Final Wall."

PS: The expected self-painted chess pieces for the lottery are, from left to right, Salamander, Blood Angel, Black Shield, Black Templar, and the Iron Warriors that I made for my personal interest.

I still don't understand how the lottery is generally done in Hedgehog Cat. I'll figure it out in a couple of days and release it together with the bounty. I'll announce the rules then, and those who are interested can participate.

Speaking of which, Death Watch was established during the Beast Wars, but the plot has been changed. A different Death Watch will be involved later. I will talk about it when I write about it.

Chapter 182: Iron Hands (×) → Iron Pilot (New)

A week has passed since the plague was abolished, and the crisis brought by Vashtor has begun to ferment.

The sages, who initially thought these enemies were not a threat, realized how difficult the enemies were during the battle.

They originally thought that the ghoul army composed of abandoned mechanical servants simply had the advantage in numbers, but they did not expect that they could actually spread the plague waste code buried in their bodies by biting.

The firewalls in the bodies of those low-level crusaders are powerless to resist the erosion of the waste code. Once attacked, they will quickly be corroded and transformed into one of the zombie army.

The sages, who had originally simply compared the military strength and believed that the Crusaders would not be at a disadvantage even in close combat when dealing with these enemies, were suddenly caught in a dilemma.

They couldn't let these strange enemies get close to them, but with less than one-tenth of their production, they couldn't afford the consumption of long-range weapons.

Even if they took out all the things they had saved, the Khorne demon army at the forefront absorbed most of the long-range firepower, and the battle would inevitably be brought into close combat.

Incorporating the low-level priests who chanted prayers, the Runes, and the data craftsmen who fought against the invasion of scrap code into the battle sequence could effectively combat this corruption, but the embarrassing thing was that the priests fighting against the Vashtor army on the front line were short of manpower.

Even if they couldn't produce, the total number of Skitarii remaining on Mars would still be tens of millions. However, these tens of millions of Skitarii were scattered among every priest and sage on Mars, each of whom controlled hundreds to tens of thousands of Skitarii.

Unable to unite, they could not integrate the Crusaders, and naturally could not gather enough priests.

They pinned their hopes on the reinforcements Kubik had promised them. However, with the deliberate connivance of the Fabricator-General, the only organized Martian Skitarii never engaged in direct battle.

So the sages could only watch in despair as Skarbrand shouted "Blood sacrifice to the Blood God, skulls to the Skull Throne." He took away their life's work, and they were completely powerless to resist.

"Skarbrand is coming, another city is about to fall!"

The sages who lost their own territories could only pack up their things and join the Forge General. The Crusaders belonging to Kubik would only provide them with shelter if they wholeheartedly obeyed the Forge General for the sake of their own lives.

With the "joining" of these sages, Kubik's power grew again.

When the entire Mars realized that they had to increase their efforts to deal with this crisis, as the only reliable option on the front line, the Firebee Legion, which had not relented before, was even willing to send a Titan company consisting of three Warlord-class and six Warhound-class Titans to support him.

Kubik only needs to lead these forces to defeat Vashtor, and he can once again secure his position as the Casting General.

Kubik had expected things to develop to this point, but he was not in a hurry to advance because the enemy's strength had increased several times during this period.

Thanks to the sages who were defeated one by one, the ghoul army, which originally only had the abandoned mechanical servants in the Rust Wasteland, now has a group of armed crusaders, achieving a qualitative leap in strength.

Originally only about one million, they now number five million, plus the Cybernetic Corps they captured from Kubik and the 88,888 Khorne Daemon Legions. Even if most of them were just cannon fodder, the total was still staggering.

Considering that the group of sages under his command, led by Karkes, who were in charge of commanding the Crusaders, had been killed under the Lava City, the Casting General, who had suffered a loss, felt that he needed to arrange the battle plan carefully.

He and Vashtor were thus caught in a delicate standoff. The Casting General, who was currently rebuilding Martian production capacity, was not anxious, but Vashtor was getting a little impatient.

"Laser gun, heavy bombs, and at most a laser gun..."

Vashtor tried to pick and choose on the production line he had stolen, but he was still not satisfied.

These things are in high demand in the Eye of Terror, where even a piece of ceramite armor plate can cause a fight between two war gangs. As long as Vashtor can bring these production lines back to his own territory, it will be enough for him to make a fortune.

But Vashtor's ultimate goal is to become the fifth god of the subspace. Compared with practical interests, he has higher aspirations.

“These production lines lack creativity and innovation and are completely unable to provide the creative ideas that would satisfy and elevate my concepts!”

He threw away the production lines like garbage, his tone full of dissatisfaction.

Concepts are the most important thing to these abstract individuals in the warp, just like Nurgle corresponds to corruption and life, and Khorne corresponds to killing and courage. As long as these concepts exist, they are immortal.

If Vashtor wants to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Four Gods, this is the kind of essential improvement he needs.

The goal he chose for himself was the "art of evil," a twisted and destructive form of creativity. To advance on this path, Vashtol needed forbidden technologies with even greater destructive power, not these childish firesticks.